Securing a Better Future for the Oceans and for People

Mamadou Sarr is a 54-year old Senegalese artisanal fisherman who has been working at sea for more than 36 years. He entered the profession out of his love for fishing and the ocean, and has been supporting a family of eight with his daily catches.

Greenpeace met him at Ouakam, a fishing village on the outskirts of Dakar, where he shared his story with our local activists. "If nothing is done to reverse the negative impacts of foreign vessels in Senegalese waters," he said, "I will lose my job."

Foreign vessels have been plundering the waters of West Africa for decades to stock the fish markets of Europe and Asia. Industrial fishing is depriving West African people of a vital source of protein and pushing thousands of locals into poverty and despair.

The question was how to draw attention to the plunder of West African fisheries. Greenpeace Africa, through our office in Dakar, Senegal, built up close relationships with coastal communities and fish workers in the country.

Their stories have proved to be as powerful and inspiring as they have been educational -- from their testimonies of the massive change in state of the ocean over the years to their current struggles to support their families. These are stories that deserve to be broadcast far and wide, so that what has been out of sight for many people no longer remains out of mind.

Just weeks before 2012's presidential elections in Senegal, Greenpeace organised the "My Voice, My Future" caravan, which toured through the country's main cities and villages to speak with local fishermen and women about sustainable fishing.

Eager to make their voices heard, fishermen and women from all over the country responded to our call, some traveling miles by canoe. More than 6,000 people signed a petition calling on the presidential candidates to support sustainable fisheries.

When the newly elected President Macky Sall revoked the licenses of 29 large foreign trawlers, which together were taking almost half of the country's catch of pelagic fish, thousands of people took to the streets in celebration. As Greenpeace Africa exposed in a report, the licenses had been granted in dubious circumstances by the previous fisheries minister.

Around the world, 12 million people are employed in small-scale fisheries and many of them face challenges similar to the artisanal fisheries in Senegal.

But the problems are by no means confined to developing nations. In Europe, for example, small-scale fishing vessels make up 80% of the fleet, yet they receive only a fraction of the fishing-quota allocation. The overwhelming proportion of the quota, along with millions of Euros in subsidies, goes to large-scale industrial operators.

Small-scale low-impact fishermen use fishing methods that have the least impact on fish populations and the marine environment. Living and working locally, they contribute to the economic and social stability of coastal communities, where alternative sources of income are generally limited. Until recently, however, European governments had failed to recognize this advantage as a reason to promote low-impact fisheries.

Greenpeace UK is now testing this commitment. Small boats in the UK make up almost 80% of the fishing fleet, but receive a measly 4% of the fishing quota, which is too small for them to make a living. This imbalance was recently recognized by the UK High Court, which gave the green light for a full judicial review into whether the UK fishing-quota-allocation system is lawful under new European law.

Just as all the world's oceans are one, the challenges of fishermen worldwide are interlinked, as is their future. A win for low-impact fishermen in the UK could have far-reaching consequences for other EU countries. In turn, changes in European fisheries will impact the rest of the world.

Undeniably, there is still a long way to go before we can embrace the notion of healthy and vibrant oceans, and it is not only the impacts of fishing that must be brought under control.

From the deepest oceans to the icy waters of the Arctic, governments and corporations are racing to exploit the last living resource, the last drop of oil, the last minerals hidden in the seabed. All while climate change and rising carbon-dioxide emissions are pushing ocean ecosystems further toward the brink of destruction.

In both Senegal and Europe, changes came about because peoples' voices became so powerful that they could not be ignored. Together, with millions of people across the world who love the oceans, Greenpeace will continue to bring citizen power to the forefront. Together, we can secure healthy oceans and a sustainable and fair future for all who depend on them.

Kumi Naidoo is Executive Director of Greenpeace International

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post in partnership with Ocean Unite, an initiative to unite and activate powerful voices for ocean-conservation action. The series is being produced to coincide with World Oceans Day (June 8), as part of HuffPost's "What's Working" initiative, putting a spotlight on initiatives around the world that are solutions oriented. To read all the posts in the series, read here.